St. Lawrence University Athletics

The third-seeded Saints overcame a six-goal deficit, but their late rally fell short as they fell to No. 2 Skidmore 13-8 in the Liberty League semifinals Friday evening at William Smith in Geneva, New York.

St. Lawrence made their first post-season appearance since 2013. Julia Mitiguy and Kayla Schmalz scored two goals each for the Saints, while Kiera Taussig tallied one goal and one assist. Ashley Norris, Alexandra LaMotte and Emma Owens each scored one goal.

The Thoroughbreds came out firing scoring six unanswered goals to start the first half. St. Lawrence responded with three, including a man-up goal from Taussig with just over five minutes to play in the first half. Cas Szwajkowski finished off scoring for the half, netting Skidmore's seventh goal of the game with 18 seconds to play, giving the Thoroughbreds a 7-3 lead.

Schmalz found the back of the net just 10 seconds into the second half to get the Saints back within three. With 22:28 on the clock, Tyler Phillips logged a free position goal for Skidmore. LaMotte responded for St. Lawrence off an assist from Taussig to make it 8-5, but Skidmore recorded the next two goals to stretch its lead back to five. Phillips chipped in an unassisted goal, then set up Szwajkowski's fourth of the day.
 
Schmalz registered a free position goal for St. Lawrence with just over 17 minutes remaining in the second half, but once again the Thoroughbreds answered with two more goals. Gianna Muscari and Szwajkowski scored nine seconds apart to give Skidmore a 12-6 advantage. Mitiguy and Owens found the back of the net for the Saints to make it 12-8 with 5:48 remaining, but Phillips struck again with 4:14 to go for Skidmore.
 
"No matter the outcome, I couldn't be prouder of this team," said head coach Ashley Pike. "Losing is never the outcome we like, but the effort they have put in this season was tremendous."

Szwajkowski scored five goals and added two assists for the Thoroughbreds. Phillips netted three goals and an assist, while Amanda Orvis, Muscari, Allison Byrne and Lilla Seymour all scored one goal for Skidmore.

Megan Kolopsky recorded 11 saves for Skidmore, while Cricket Wemyss and Olga Lukas combined for five saves for the Saints.

The Saints closed their season 8-9 overall. Skidmore advanced to the Liberty League championships tomorrow afternoon facing William Smith.